The e-commerce behemoth, Amazon, has finally made its way to Africa, specifically South Africa, where it has announced the launch of Amazon.co.za, aimed at “providing customers in South Africa with a new online shopping experience,” as the firm puts it.
Newsng gathered that The e-commerce giant’s first marketplace on the continent is South Africa, where it will compete with local players like Takealot, which is primarily owned by media giant Naspers, as well as Makro and bidorbuy from Bob Group to capture the estimated $3 billion in e-commerce revenue that South Africa has to offer annually.
Amazon stated in June 2022 that it will be entering five more African, European, and South American nations: Nigeria, South Africa, Belgium, Chile, and Colombia.
A fortnight later, Amazon registered “Amazon.com.ng” and “Amazon.co.za” as domain names for its African initiative, known as “Project Fela.”
The company stated that its initial strategy is to provide both local and international brands across about 20 different product categories.
In addition to 3,000 pickup locations and same-day and next-day delivery, Amazon is also giving free delivery for anyone’s first order and any subsequent orders over R500 (~$27) to attract customers.
Reacting to the launch, Robert Koen, managing director of sub-Saharan Africa, Amazon said: “We are excited to launch Amazon.co.za, along with thousands of independent sellers in South Africa.”
The country’s minister of small business development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, adds: “We are counting on Amazon to provide such opportunities to our small enterprises.”
Newsng gathered that the company has also postponed its February 2023 launch in Nigeria, and it has not yet provided an update on when it would reopen for business there.
We earlier reported that digital payments globally, Visa Inc., has announced that it would be working with the AWS Partner Network (APN) to make it easier for customers, including enterprises, financial institutions, and cloud-native fintech, to use its payment services.